AZUSA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's tennis team continued its perfect start to the season on Thursday, registering an impressive win over Azusa Pacific at the Munson and Bavougian Tennis Complex on the APU campus.
The Tritons fell behind by a point after dropping the first two doubles matches, but rallied to win five out of six in singles play to spoil the Cougars' season opener, 6-3.
UCSD has now won its first seven matches of the season, improving to 7-0 for the first time since moving to the Division II level prior to the 2001 campaign. The Tritons' stellar start has come without a home match, as head coach Eric Steidlmayer's squad won't make it first appearance at the Northview Tennis Courts until the first day of March.
UCSD's top doubles pair of Erik Elliott and Austin West suffered their first loss of this season with an 8-1 setback to APU's Janosch Apelt and Jochem Hoefnagles and Whitman Hough and Ilja Ikonnikov would take down Armaun Emami and Jason Wall, 8-3, at No. 2. Max Jiganti and Devon Sousa got the Tritons on the board with an 8-4 win over Benedict Eger and Daniel Moore in the third spot to make it 2-1 in favor of the Cougars heading into singles.
UCSD made quick work of APU in the bottom four spots on the ladder, as Junya Yoshida, Sam Ling, Vincent Nguyen and West all took down their opponents. Three of the four wins came in straight sets, with Ling bouncing back from an early loss to get by Hough, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Hoefnagles defeated Chapman Chan 6-3, 6-4 for the Cougars' only singles win, and Elliott held a 6-2 lead over Apelt when their match was retired, sealing the 6-3 victory for UCSD.
The Tritons will return to action in two weeks when Division I Villanova comes to town on Tuesday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m.
Singles
1. Erik Elliott (UCSD) def. Janosch Apelt (APU) 6-2, ret.
2. Jochem Hoefnagles (APU) def. Chapman Chan (UCSD) 6-3, 6-4
3. Junya Yoshida (UCSD) def. Benedict Eger (APU) 6-4, 7-6
4. Sam Ling (UCSD) def. Whitman Hough (APU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
5. Vincent Nguyen (UCSD) def. Frederik Wilkens (APU) 6-1, 6-4
6. Austin West (UCSD) def. Alex Dickson (APU) 6-2, 7-6
Doubles
1. Apelt/Hoefnagles (APU) def. Elliott/West (UCSD) 8-1
2. Hough/Ilja Ikonnikov (APU) def. Armaun Emami/Jason Wall (UCSD) 8-3
3. Max Jiganti/Devon Sousa (UCSD) def. Eger/Daniel Moore (UCSD) 8-4
UCSD 6, Azusa Pacific 3
